Punjab Police’s elite SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) commandos, armed police as well as police personnel from Amritsar, Pathankot, Tarn Taran and Batala districts were hurriedly rushed to Gurdaspur central jail to control the violence. Rohit Chaudhary, ADGP, confirmed over the phone that number of jail inmates from central jail have been shifted to other prisons in Punjab.

Sources added that violent inmates almost breached the jail’s outer wall but use of tear gas by police helped to control the situation. Chaudhary said, “ The situation is totally under control now and throughout the day medicals have been conducted of inmates. “Interseting part is that nonoe of the prisoners suffered any injuries in the meele which went night long and injuries to police officers took place in inital stages,” added Chaudhary.

The rioting began on Friday noon after some gangsters, led by Jagtar Singh Jagga, attacked two jail warders with pipes. The inmates used gardening tools to breach the outer jail wall but were prevented from escaping.

The sources said that some criminals lodged in the jail even threatened to upload videos of police action against the prisoners on social media, forcing police to initially restrain itself in acting against the rioters. Chaudhary said that they had a word with inmates and multiple reasons led to the flare of tempers. “Old administrative sytem is one of the issues and we need to bring positive changes in jail manuals,” quipped Chaudhary.